Slide fastener



May 19, 1936.

w. 'J. REUTER SLIDE FASTENER Filed Sept. 15, 1955 I v I NVENTOR. Zilliam J Reufer RNEYS.

Patented May 19; i936:

Tammie 3 same. ras'rnnna William H. lteuter, Mead ville, a., assignor to Backless Fastener @ompany, a corporation oi I I Pennsylvania Application September 115, less, serial No. 689,615 a Claims. (on. 24-205) My invention relates to slide fasteners of a type which has been on the. market. for many years. More recently slide fasteners have been made with decorativecoatings so as to overcome t the objection to the metallic appearance iniine articles of wearing apparel, ladies hand s, etc. Some of the coatings which have been used to give a brown or black appearance are'oxides of the metal of which the fastener elements are made, but more commonly the coating is a lacquer having the desired characteristics. The principal dimculty in the use of such coatings is that the slider must slide along the flexible surfaces of the fastener elements. The object of my invention is to provide an improved construction whereby the abrasive action of the slider on the .tlexible surfaces on the fastener elements is avoided as much as possible.

in the accompanying drawing I have shown for purposes of illustration, one form which my invention may assume in practice. lln'this dra I ing:

Fig. l is a plan view of a part of a fastener embodying my invention;

25 Fig. 2 is a cross-section on line t-,-t of Fig 1;

i'lg. 3 is a 'perspective'vlew of an individual fastener element.

The fastener illustrated is one which is well known commercially but it will be understood at It and is applied usually only to the one side of the fastener which will be visible in the article tobe fastened. The end surfaces of the fastener elementsmust take the bearing load of the slider in pulling'the fastener together and since they are not prominently visible it is not a serious objection if the finishing material wears off this 5 surface. However, the broad surface of the fas- J tener which-is most prominent in use does notnecessarily bear against the slider to any considerable extent. In this case thesesurfaces'of the fastener elements are concavely formed. as

, 55 indicated at II so that the thickness of the fastener elements is substantially reduced except at the ends. Since the inner surface ofthe slider channel is straight, therefore, the slider will have only line contacts with the fastener as appears at it and it.

After. continued use the finishing material will wear off along the corners of the fastener elements as well'as-at the ends but this will not be seriously objectionable since it will be only av minor part of the visible surface and the finishit ing material will not be removed over large surfaces so as to make it noticeable.

While li'have shown and described in this application one embodiment which my invention may assume in practice, it'iwill be understood .15 that this embodiment is merely for the purposes of illustration and description and various other forms may be devised within the-scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I cl asv my invention is:

l. in a slide fastener, the combination of rows of fastener, elements having their entire outer- .visible surfaces concavely curved, a slider mounted to slide on said fastenerv elements and; having a straight inner surface covering said concave Q5 surfaces, and having contact with each of the fastener elements along the edge thereof whereby theconcave surfaces are supported outof contact with the slider, and a finishing coating on said curved surfaces. $0

' 2. In a slide fastener the combination of rows of interlocking fastener elements each having'a side surface adapted tobe exposed to view in normal use of the fastener, a thin finishing coating on said surfaces, and a slider enclosing the elementathe slider contacting with one edge or each side surface and exerting force on said elements in a direction substantially perpendicular to said face in interlocking the elements, each side surface being out of contactwith theslider throughout its entire area except at said edge.

3. In a slide fastener the combination of-rows of interlocking fastener elements each having a side surface adapted to be exposed to view in normal use of the fastener, a thin finishing coating on said surfaces, and a. slider enclosing the elements and having a flat innersurface contacting with one edge of each element and exerting a force on each element substantially perpendic-. 5

ular to the side surface in interlocking'the elements, the side surfaces beingconcave to prevent contact betwen said coatings and flat inner surface of the slider except at said edges. e i WILLIAM J. REUTER. 5 

